The team principal will be Tony Fernandes, who is ranked the 15th-richest man in Malaysia and set up Air Asia, the airline which sponsors Williams.

A statement from the government said: “?óÔé¼?ôThe cars will be made in Malaysia, by Malaysians […] The team will announce its two drivers by October 31, 2009. Currently six local and international drivers have been selected.”

Interestingly, FIA president candidate Jean Todt has links to Malaysia via his partner Michelle Yeoh and his role as an ambassador for Malaysian tourism (about which questions were raised earlier this year).

The model above may prove not to be indicative of what the team’s final 2010 livery will look like – but I think it would be great to see such a radical colour scheme on the F1 grid.

But with Force India, US F1 and now 1Malaysia, is F1 slowly turning into A1 Grand Prix?

Love the colour scheme. You lot are all boring. That said, it looks to me more like a false-colour image map of something from a CFD simulation or a wind tunnel measurement than an actual colour scheme.

Also, it isn’t a Lotus. If you’re going to paint it that colour, call it a Proton and be done with it.

Something cool I found out: Malaysia’s national motorsport colours are yellow with white. Lotus’s company colours are yellow with green.

If Lotus nets Petronas – which is very, very likely given that they’re both Malaysian and both connected to the Malaysian government – then maybe we could see a banana-yellow car with green branding over it. Petronas have already demonstrated that they’re willing to run their logos in colours that suit a team rather than have the team run a livery that suits them.

I thought that teams who weren’t awarded a space on the 2010 grid got placed on the FIA’s reserve list in case a team that as been granted an entry can’t make it onto the grid. So what’s the point of having the reserve list if someone who didn’t submit a bid initially can come over the top of you when a space opens up?

If I was Lola or Prodrive I’d take this as a sign that Bernie really really really doesn’t want you in F1. Bernie clearly thinks that it would be better to have a rainbow coloured Lotus on the grid than Aston Martin or Lola. As much as I’m going to love to see the Lotus name back in F1, I don’t want it to be at the cost of great racing teams like Prodrive and Lola.

So whatâ€™s the point of having the reserve list if someone who didnâ€™t submit a bid initially can come over the top of you when a space opens up?

I suspect Lotus bought out the Litespeed bid. It would be the only way onot the shortlist.

If I was Lola or Prodrive Iâ€™d take this as a sign that Bernie really really really doesnâ€™t want you in F1. Bernie clearly thinks that it would be better to have a rainbow coloured Lotus on the grid than Aston Martin or Lola.

Bernie has absolutely no control over which teams join the grid. And don’t forget that Dave Richards won a spot on the 2008 grid, but never made it. The FIA isn’t going to forget that in a hurry. Nor will they forget Lola’s rushed 1997 efforts.

Or it could just be that while Lola and Prodrive were strong applicants, others were stronger. Did you consider that?

I knew someone would mention Lola’s poor 1997 effort! If the FIA aren’t forgetting Lola’s rushed efforts, why give a start-up team a place on next years grid? Lotus only have 6 months to get the car on the track, and Mike Gascoyne has already admitted that the car will be released “late” and has admitted that this may lead to reliability issues.

You can say whatever you want regarding the color scheme of the car, but the team has the final decision and they are not getting your opinions. They have the right, period. Regarding the drivers, I think they’ll sign Yoong since he is still contracted and tied up with Proton Axes (malaysian Racing team for touring cars) and again, they have the final rights who to pick up and they are not getting your opinions. Period!

To be honest this is a disgrace on the Lotus name. Not just the godawful appearance of the car but the whole package.

Lotus is historically one of the greatest names in F1. It’s bad enough that they as a car manufacturer had to go cap in hand to Proton – renowned maker of some of the worst cars in class – in order to survive.
Now this travesty, that will never score a point and will serve only to be a mobile chicane. Unbelievably, even more so with the likes of Yoong at the wheel.

Let Lotus F1 rest in peace or scrap the ridiculous A1GP inspired idea of building it all in Malaysia with one of the worlds most politically corrupt and oppressive regimes.

That paint scheme looks hideous. I’m sorry Team Lotus / Malaysia, but come on. Do you not have a slew of designers waiting on your doorstep to help design this thing? I would die to work on a project like this – yet a 10 year old was able to airbrush it :(